Sudan police deployed to gold factories in South Kordofan

Demonstration against a gold mining factory in Sudan on 7 February this year (RD)

In reaction to protests against several gold mining factories in South Kordofan, the federal Ministry of Metals deployed a police force to protect the factories from rioters.

The ministry sent a force, 190 policemen large, in two batches to protect the factories in Talodi, Abu Jubeiha and Kologi. The last batch arrived in Kologi on Sunday, but withdrew after locals started to gather in a large group.

Residents have protested the use of the chemical substance cyanide in the extraction of gold, which is harmful to human beings, the environment, and animals. Angry locals burned parts of a mining factory that belongings to El Hadaf Company in Talodi on 25 February. Earlier that month protesters managed to get the Kalogi commissioner to shut down one of the gold factories.

There are reportedly 40 factories in Talodi, 30 in Abu Jubeiha, and 30 in Kologi. Witnesses reported to Radio Dabanga that the first batch of about 90 policemen was deployed to the state on 10 March.

'Tighten control'

Bakri Hassan Saleh, the Prime Minister, has called for the need to tighten the control on the mining sector in South Kordofan in order to ensure its optimal utilisation. Saleh wants to achieve that the mining sector sustains the national economy.

On Monday he addressed the opening session of the second International Forum for Sudan's Mining Fair at the Friendship Hall in Khartoum. Saleh directed the Ministry of Minerals to attract international expertise to Sudan while preserving the environments in which mining sites and factories are located.

Sudan has witnessed increasingely more demonstrations against the use of chemicals in the extraction of gold as mining companies increased their activities in parts of South Kordofan and in Northern Sudan.